Riyas Komu on the need of the hour at the new Bihar Museum

The artist and the curator hopes that the Bihar Museum will be a lens trained on a more modern future of curation

The meditative Buddha courtyard at the Bihar Museum has been designed based on the Japanese concept of oku

“We owe it to Bihar and to ourselves; we owe it to Bihar’s rich heritage and long history,” said Chief Minister Nitish Kumar during the inauguration of the main galleries of the Bihar Museum on October 2, this year. He also defended the public expenditure for it as a long-term cultural investment. The state was once at the centre of India’s political, spiritual and cultural development; so any apprehensions about the museum’s location are misplaced.

The city already houses the third-oldest museum in the country, the illustrious Patna Museum, established in 1917, and which has a large collection of archaeological materials and artefacts. Now, the two museums will function complementarily in terms of the historical periods they cover.

The Bihar Museum’s children’s section was opened in 2015, but last month the galleries displaying artefacts from history, folklore and contemporary art, and the girmitiya (descendants of indentured Indian labourers) section on the Bihari diaspora opened to the public. The challenges are those of creative curation and developing modes of exhibition and presentation. Such initiatives depend on the functional autonomy of the museum and its openness to contemporary curating practices.

The lounge and first-floor cloister spaces

The proposed autonomous society to manage the museum will be vested, one hopes, with enough statutory and financial powers. Now, when the state is retreating from cultural investments, the creation of a public institution is even more important, and a model to follow. The Bihar Museum’s most important feature is the fact that it was conceived as a museum. It was not a heritage structure converted into a museum, but a contemporary space specifically designed to house art, archaeological objects and artefacts, and to offer a unique visual experience. Architect Fumihiko Maki’s minimalist architecture makes a radical break with the colonialist tradition of museums as heritage spaces.

The sandstone-clad administration block with the sloping Corten exterior wall

Bihar-born artist Subodh Gupta, whose work will be a centrepiece there, says: “Such a contemporary art space in Patna will inspire confidence in artists in the region.” Sculptor KS Radhakrishnan is also all praise for the Bihar government for creating such an architectural marvel: “As an artist, I find this architecture exciting; it is unlike any other museum in India. Now the real challenge is how to use this space creatively.”

From conception, to design, to execution, the authorities have followed a very committed and professional approach. But how can they take it forward and institutionalise its founding philosophy and vision? Conceived and designed as a contemporary art space, the Bihar Museum cannot now be a mere repository of archaeological objects or artworks—set in a fixed sequence and bound to an official narrative. It has to converse with the times, and create dynamic exhibitions that engage with history and art in a contemporary manner.

The main entrance lobby

This calls for collaborations with curators, artists, art historians, museum experts and exhibition specialists to shape its look and feel, form and function. Apart from functional autonomy, the Museum needs to explore the possibilities of content exchanges, travelling shows, lecture programmes, workshops, and productions involving artists, curators, and programmers from India and abroad.

Unless it is constantly catalysed by interaction and exchange, it can sink into the routine, everydayness of governmentalisation, which will defeat the very purpose of this wonderful architectural investment. For ages, Bihar has been a melting pot of history, culture, religion and politics, with a lot of lessons to teach us.

Let us hope that the radiant Didargunj Yakshi statue at the centre of the Museum will witness the artistic and aesthetic freedom she embodies.